Celts, Saxons, Romans – lend me your ears

You should know by now that history fascinates me. If you don’t, I have to ask, where the Sam Hill have you been?

I made mention of symmetry in a previous blog – all to do with lots of info about our forefathers and Vikings, etc. etc.

In my virtual and literary travels, I got to wondering about who the British are as a people? Did we spring up one day, teacup in one hand, doses of common sense in the other? Did we, as some historians and anthropologists believe, all originate from one woman?

There are so many schools of thought about this, it’s pretty mind boggling but this is what I managed to piece together:

Already in Scotland were the Picts, made up of two main groups composed of a related Celtic people and a Phoenician people. The Celtic Picts embodied others who had settled in Scotland at an earlier date, including the Iberians. According to the British historian Bede, the Celtic Picts had arrived in Ireland (Scotia) after journeying from Scythia in longboats, and were from there directed by the inhabitants (Scots) to Scotland (Alban). Before the Picts, Scotland was colonised by the Iberians.

Ancient historians named the divisions of the Celts as the Hyperborei, who dwelt beyond the north wind; the Cimbri, settled at the “Old Oceans utmost bounds,” Jutland, Friesland Islands, etc.; the Scythae, which included the Goths and Danes; the Dacii, who dwelt around the sources of the Danube; the Teutons, called Germans by Tacitus and others; the Acquitani, occupying the territory between Garonne and the Pyrenees.

Scots came from Ireland in A.D. 258 and settled in Argyll on the western coast of Scotland. In A.D. 364 Scots, Picts and Saxons joined forces to attack the hated Romans – reaching as far south as London before finally being repulsed by superior Roman arms. A regular flow of Scots immigrated to Scotland from Ireland.

The Anglo-Saxons had been raiding Roman Britain for some time but when the Roman Empire started to collapse and the legions left, Britain was pretty much defenceless. The economy collapsed too, so it was easy pickings for the Anglo-Saxons. Jutes joined in the fun too, then later the Vikings.

So there you have it. Clear as mud. I did test these theories out on the unsuspecting at the water cooler, but after being threatened in a rather aggressive manner (they must descend from the Goths, that lot), I retreated to my desk and typed up this fascination for you. Aren’t you glad?